CA2248658A1

CA2248658A1 - Method for eliminating telephone hold time

Info

Publication number: CA2248658A1
Application number: CA002248658A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Fred J. Schwartz; Steven H. Bazerman
Original assignee: CALL-A-GUIDE Inc
Current assignee: CALL-A-GUIDE Inc
Priority date: 1997-09-24
Filing date: 1998-09-24
Publication date: 1999-03-24
Also published as: EP0905957A3; US5903642A; EP0905957A2; US6049603A

Abstract

A method, which may be carried through a computer and its modem, is used to minimize the telephone time necessary to establish direct voice contact with the computer technician or other service provider and to provide information to the technician about the computer system and program. When contact is made through the modem with the information provider's PBX, the caller's computer would send a signal, indicating whether this is a reconnect or a new contact. If the customer support telephone line is for a number of programs or if there are different queues for different problems, a dialog box can be used to supply the necessary information to select the appropriate queue. The telephone system would provide an indication of the current wait time for the particular product or problem taking into account not only the open lines currently in the queue, but other callers who will be calling back at an appropriate time. The caller will then be informed of length of the wait and that the caller can (1) have the caller's computer automatically call back at the appropriate time without losing the place in line if the caller has a telephone connection to his/her modem; (2) call back on a telephone not connected to the modem with a priority number which will position the caller in the queue, if a caller does not have a handset attached to his/her modem;or (3) continue to hold. If the information provider desires, it can eliminate or limit the third option to a maximum hold period. If the caller wishes to call back, either through the computer or manually, the PBX generates a priority code corresponding to the place in line which is supplied to the caller's computer through its modem. At the call-back time, the computer will then place the phone call to the appropriate number and when answered by the customer service telephone number will supply the priority code and the caller will be placed in the queue based on the priority code.
The caller's computer may at the time voice contact is made, forward system and diagnostic information.

Description

;~' "'' METHOD FOR ELIMINATING TELEPHONE HOLD TI~

This invention relates to inbound telPphol-P call ~ruce~ .g and, in particular, to a method for n~lo~ ic~lly procescing lelephonP calls to an n~. ,..~1;on provider, such as computer technical ~U~JpOll, to çl;lll;ll~1e long hold times and to ~utom~tic~lly provide certain information to the i~lful..~t;on provider prior to direct telephol~e contact ~l-._en the caller and the provider.
Inform~tjon, such as te~hnir~l support for both computer hardware and software, is provided by telephone calls made by the caller to a technical support or communication center. There are usually long delays in which the caller is held on telephone queue awaiting the availability of a 10 person, such as a Co~ tech~ician. Depending on the colll~y and its technical support system, this telephone time may be charged by the telephone compally either to the support service or the caller. The end result is a suhst~nti~i charge to one or the other. Since the information provider would not wish the caller be given a busy signal, the information provider must have a large number of lines to be held open while the caller awaits contact with the appropliate person. In addition, in 15 the area of computer technical support, when a technician is finally reached, he must spend a ~ubst~nti~l period of time obtaining information about the caller's hardware and software, ~ well as obtaining ~iagJ-ostiC information which would aid the teçhniçi~t~ in evaluating the problem.
Typically, hold times for teçhnici~ in the col.lp~ll . area are at a minim~lm on the order of ten to fifteen minutes and so~ ...es extend far beyond, especially when a new product becomes S available to CQIl~ i. Busy signals and long hold times effect the caller's attitude to the service provider with a resulting negative impact on future pulchases by the caller. Collll.ulel m~g~7ines frequently present articles con~e ~ . .; l~g c ~ service which pl olllinelllly feature the time the caller is kept on hold and recorlllllc,ld p~chase based on customer service.
Some alh.llpts have been made to elimin~te this problem by use of a system which~l)tom~tir~lly obtains the caller's telephorlP number, disconnects and returns the call at the time when the caller would have been serviced had the caller stayed on hold, such as seen in U.S. Patent Nos. 5,627,884, issued May 6, 1997 to Williams et al.; 5,185,782, issued February 9, 1993 to Srinivasan; 5,155,761, issued October 13, 1992 to ~mmon~l 5,181,236, issued January 19, 1993 to LaVallee et al.; and 5,185,786, issued February 9,1993 to Zwick. These systems shift the burden of the payment for the return call to the tPchnic~l service dcp~ l,ll~,nt since it initi~tes the return call where the majority of the teleph~ e time will be spent in aiding the caller. Since the trend is for the callers to pay for the telephone time for c~lol,l.,. service, if not the service itself, such runs contrary to current practice. Callers also have a distrust of call-backs, in most cases, because the callers do not believe that they will, in fact, have pIer~ ce over the people who have held on to the phone line and because callers are not aware of their own availability at the time the call back is actually made.

In the present invention, a method which may be carried out by a computer is used to minimi7~ the telephone time l-~cese~ y to establish direct voice contact with the computer technician or other service provider and to provide inforrnation to the technician about the computer system and program, greatly reducing time charges and the number of lines n~cess~ry to maintain a caller's support system. The caller arcesses through his modem, technical support for any program by a "technical support" entry in the help menu of the applopl;ate program. The computer will then dial the number for the appropl iate technical support group.

If the line is busy, the computer would continue rec~lling until a line is available. When contact is made with the information provider's PBX, the caller's computer would send a signal, indicating whether this is a ~ecolu~c~,l or a new contact. The caller's PIN or serial number can also be sent at this time. If the CiuStO~ support telephor~ç line is for a number of programs or if there 5 are di~l~"t queues for different problems, a dialog box can be used to supply the necesc~
information to select the applopl;ate queue. Such dialog boxes can be uploaded to the support telephone system or be retained in the program itself. The telephone system would provide an indication of the current wait time for the particular product or problem taking into account not only the open lines currently in the queue, but other callers who will be calling back at an appl~.p.iate time. The caller will then be info.-.. cd of length of the wait and that the caller can (1) have the caller's computer au~...;~;c~lly call back at the applop.;~te time without losing the place in line if the caller has a telephone com1e.,lion to his/her modem; (2) call back on a telephone not connçcted to the modem with a priority number which will position the caller in the queue, if a caller does not have a h~nrlset att~ch~od to his/her modem; or (3) colllinue to hold. If the i.~llllation provider desires, it can elimin~tç or limit the third option to a ~ x i ., ,u . . hold period.
If the caller elects to remain on line, the program pelÇol.lls no further function with regard to hold time but merely supplies info, Il.s.l;on CQI~C~ g the caller's ha~ e and software to the information provider at the appropl;ate time. If the caller wishes to call back, either through the coll~ul~,. or m~nn~l ly, the caller so indicates through the modem. The PBX then gene.ales a priority codecGll~ ondingtotheplaceinlinewhichissuppliedtothecaller'scol.ll,uL~.throughitsmodem.
It should be encrypted in order to not allow the position in line to be hacked to give a plefe.~nce to the more advanced prog.~ .. ~.~ Alternatively, if a PIN or serial number was supplied by the program, the place in the queue could be .nA;,.~infd by the PBX or an ntt~ch.-d computer which could recognize the caller by its PIN or serial number.
Subsequent computer calls ("call back" or "reconnect") may be to a di~lent number than the initially contacted number. This phone number can be supplied at the same time as the information as to place in line is forwarded to the caller's colllpuler. The program then breaks the telephone conne~ilion.
At the call-back time, the computer generates a dialog box asking the caller if the caller wishes the computer to dial back or the caller wishes to call back m~nll~lly. There can also be an audible signal. If the callcr is still at the computer but is busy, the caller can initiate the snooze function and be reminde~l again ten or fifteen minutes later so the caller would not have to break, for example, an Internet wnnf~t;o~- When the caller in~lic~tes that he is ready for the phone call and he/she wishes the COIllp.lt~,l to place it, the program will then place the phone call to the applopl;ate 5 number and when an,e,~d by the ~ tlnf . service tclf,~h-)n~ number will supply its encrypted position in line, a PIN or serial number, or all three. At this point, the caller will be pl~pe.ly positioned in the queue for voice and data co~le~;lions.
If at this time the initial estimqtÇ was incorrect and it appears that there will be an extended wait, the PBX collll,ut~,. can so inform the caller's comp.-l~,l and a dialog box could appear indicating the applop.;ale time of the wait and if the caller wishes to call back, as in the start of the process.
If the second option is self.~ted the caller calls back on a phone not co~ c~,d to the modem and during the initial ,llessdge enters his/her priority code by means of the phone's key pad. The customer support system will use the number to plo~,ly position the call in the queue. In either case, the priority code will have a limited life of a few hours to prevent abuse of the system.
In order to aid the technician and eli~n.n~le the time nrtmqlly spent in questioninQ the caller about his/her system, the modem can fol~d informqtion it obtains from the colllp.~ and its software itself, such as the identity of the caller, e-mail address, tclephol~ numbers, the identified CPU, the amount of RAM, other programs, conflicts, ~i-q~grostic i~ ~tion, etc., which can be displayed on the te~hniriqn's screen before or at the time the technician commences voice conllll~ication. A~litionql infol...~;on on a particular problem can also be gathered through one or more menus which can be sent to the technical support personnel immediately before voice collllllullication is comm~n~ed Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a hold time savings system in accoldallce with the present invention.
Figs. 2-6 are a flow chart of the steps taken by the caller in the present method.

Fig. 1 illustrates a typical configuration. The callers of the method are cont~cting an information provider, such as technical support service for a col~lylller program by initi~ting a call through the respe~ li./e computers 104 through 107. Computer 104 has a telephone handset 110 ~tt~rhed to its intemal modem (not shown). CGll1~Ul. 1 105 has en eYt~rn~l modem 108 to which is h.od telcpholle handset 111. Similarly, conlyul~ 106 has an intemal modem (not shown) and compul~ 107 an extemal modem 109. Telephone h~nflsete 110 and 111 are ~tt~hed to the modem fortheircomputer 106 and 107. Telephone h~n-lsete 112 and 113 are not~tt~h~d to theim~jye~ /e modems, but are directly ~tt~h~ to the telephone systems without con~-P~l;on through the computer 106 or modem 109.
The present invention relates to a method to contact the a~royl;ate terhnici~n and ~
the position in the queue without the nccessily of holding the telephone line open. The technici~n would normally have a collly~ller 11 5 with an internal modem, not shown. Telephone handset 11 4 is ~tt~rh~cl to the PBX 140 through the terhnici~n~s modem.
As shown in the flow diagram of Fig. 2-5, once a caller makes the d~ l ;on to contact technical support or other il~fo....~;o~ provider 200, the caller, through his/her conlyul~l 104-107 initi~tee the contact 201. How the caller initiates the sonw~ to contact the technic~l support service or other hlfG~ alion provider PBX 140 depends on the ope~ti~1g system of the colllyul~l and the nature of the program itself. For example, if the opeldling system is Windows 95, one can initiate the program by having an icon on the desktop, by having an option in a help menu or in the start menu for the program to be supported or there can be a single program which offers support for a number of different technical support lines. Once the program is initi~te~l a compul~ l 104-107 will continually dial the appropl;ate technical support service using a telephone number which is incorporated in the program 202. Once contact is made with the technical support PBX 140, the caller's computer can exchange information with the PBX 140 or a support computer which is connected to the PBX 140 (not shown). If this is a call back (reconnect) after a previous contact with regard to the same problem, the caller's computer 104-107 can supply a priority number, PIN
number or serial number 203 which will be used to plop~,.ly position the telephone call in the appropriate queue 208. It may also be useful, to stop abuse of the system, to give the priority code 3 0 a limited life so that if the caller does not call back within the prescribed time period the PBX would CA 02248658 l998-09-24 refuse thc priority and/or the callcr's co~np~t~r will cease offering to contact the PBX to acco,llplish this. The priority ~ l~. can be reviewed to see if it is valid and within acceptable time limits for leconnect 204. If not, it can be treated as an initial contact. If this is the initial contact with regard to this problem and there are multiple queues, the PBX 140 can forward the text for a dialog box to ~t~ which queues is ~h~io~,.;ate 205. The caller will ~ ,ond and forward to the PBX 140 the r~ ~luested it.foll..A1;o~ 206. If this is a .ccom~e~,l but the priorit,v code is invalid or outside the time limit, the screen can so inform the caller and in~ic~'- that he/she will be treated as a new caller. The new caller will then be positio~Pd at the end of the a~p.;ate queue on a time received basis 207.
Flow chart items 209 and 210 show the illt~ .~com~e~,tion of the flow diag~ of Fig. 2 and Fig. 3.
Thus, the call is po~itionçd on the queue dGpe.. ~ g either on r~,~o~-.. e~l priority information or if anew caller, onthe basis ofthe time the phone call was received. The PBX 140, or a co~ ul. .
working in co~ ;tion with the PBX 140 (not shown) cslc~ tes the a~roxllllate wait time to the caller, based on the average length of call, the number of calls holding and the priorities previously issued which will come back on line prior to the caller coming into contact with the teçhni~l service I5 CG~ Jul~,~ 211 and so i--fo.. c the caller. At this point, the PBX queries the caller as to whether to hold or ~; ~o . . n~ ~ t and redial a~er the a~ o~ e wait time 212 . If the calculated apl,l o,~im~le wait time is more than a certain ~mollnt the PBX 140 or related con",ul~l can eli~ ç the alternative of holding and require the caller to call back in accol~ce with the r~lcl-l~t~A wait time. If the caller chooses to hold and the teçhnici~n is available within a set time period 213, the caller's cumpul~,~ canfol~. r~ fo~ I;Qn214directlytothet~hni~i~n'sco",l.uL~115throughPBX140.
Such i~fo....~t;on may include the L...l~ con~illed in the caller's co,~uler, the software, conflicts, ~lia nostic il~fol ~ ;on~ such as Dr. watson~9~ which infollllalion can be gathered from the caller's computer 214 by the program either during set up of the program and/or at the time the program is initiated. This information would be displayed on conlpu~l 115 and voice contact established between the caller and the technician 21 6. If the callers 1 04, 1 05 and the technicians' co",puL. .s 115 have the capacity for simultaneous tr~nemiesion of data and voice, they can be tr~nemitted eimlllt~neQusly. The data rh~nnel can then also be left open for tr~nenniesion of ~lia~ostics and other inform~tion during and eimlllt~neously with the vocal communications.

If, however, the support service does not pick up within a set time 213, the PBX rec~c~ t~s the wait time and tr~n~mit~ it to the caller 211. Again the caller is given the option of holding or recol-ne~;ng at the new es~ te~ time 212.
Flow chart items 217, 218 show the inte.~;ol~n~cl;ol~ b~ cn the flow chart of Fig. 3 and S Fig. 4. If a ~eçi~io~ is either made by the caller or the cG~ Jul~. that the caller should not hold and the call is not a l~ol~n~ct with a priority code already established 219, the PBX establishes the caller's priority 220 and fo.~. ~s it 221 to the caller's co~ t~.s 104-107. If the technical service depd,lll.e.lt desires to have the caller call back at a differentphone number 222, it can fo.~lv~d such new phone number 223 to the caller's CGII~t~. 104-107. Such ~It~n~tç phone nurnber might be 10 useful to direct calls to specific problems, to use a local service centers, or to allow the use of an "800" number for the initial contact and normal area code dialing for the actual auppOIl. The cco~-l-P,~tillfo....adonisdisplayedonthecaller'scon.l,ul~,r 104-107,includingnumberil~l..lation and priority code 224. The caller' s collll,ul~.. then ~ o. . .~ ~ ;c~l ly disco~ e~ the tcletpholle line 225.
Instead of basing the positi~ning in the queue on the use of a priority code, the caller' s colll~ul~r can 15 supply its PIN nurnber or serial numberto the PBX 140 or its ~isoc:~ 'ed co. ..p~t~ and the queue can be 1~ tA;~ by the PBX 140 or associated colll~,lte..
Flow chart items 227,232 and 234, showthe ult~,.COI~ ;on ofthe flow chart of Fig.5 with the other figures. Where the calderas ~ co~ te~l from the PBX, the caller's COlll~U~,. 104-107 will, at the end of the wait time, initiate a dialog box to asc~ h~ how the caller would like to 20 ICC~ vt 228. The screen can display phone llUlll~ a and priority code. The caller would be given three options 229, d-~lo..~e~ se, manual re~on3e orto snooze. If snooze is sele~,ted, the same dialog lea~ , after a set period of time. If ~tom~te~ ,onse is indicated, the program automatically dials the PBX 140 and forwards the priority code 223 and then ,eco~ e.;~s 234 to the program at step 209 as seen in Figs. 5 and 6. If manual is selected, the caller m~m~lly dials the number displayed on the screen and on the prompt enters the priority code displayed by means of the key pad 230 and the caller is redirected to his place in the queue 231. Since the contact is by direct phone contact rather than through the modçm, the manual caller will be unable to send the hardware, ~liagnostic and other ;nfc~....~1 ;on to the PBX 140. Just as a caller of automated fecol~ect is informed of his place in line by dialog boxes, ~lltom~te~ verbal information may be supplied to 30 the caller 24 l ~ who can have the option of t~ g the call and r~col~l~e~ g at a later time using the samc priority code or holding 242, 236, 245. If thc caller tccides to hold, his wait time can be constantly updated 243.
While holding, ad~ ..< ,~c can be forwarded to the caller's cG~ l,,. or the caller's h~nrlcet d~ 3ing on ~h~. the call is made through the modem or not.
While the present invendon is ~ d interms of c~-- .p.~t ~; tç~hnic~l support, the invention is equally Prpli~ble to any contact where there is a large ~ l~ of callers or clletom~rs and the party to be contacted has a limited number of persons to respond such as would occur when a person is ~ t;~g to contact a go~e~ agency, c~ o -. ,- olde.~g dep~~ e.lts"~ 40l~P, comrl~int depall~c~t~ and the like. Equally, while the invention has been .1ic~ sul in terms of using a priority number generated by the PBX, the son~.,'s own PIN or serial number may be used and the PBX ~ the queue, as ~liccllssed above. If priority codes are used, they should be e~ yted such as to make it ~lifficlllt or imroccible for the caller to obtain a higher priority than the caller is çntitletl It is ~ le ~100d that the present elnbo~lim~nt descnbed above is to be co~cidered as illu~tive and not restrictive. It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to make various ck ~ag~s, alterations and m~lificfltionc to the invention des~ibed herein. To the extent that these variations, modifications and alterations depart ~om the scope and spirit of the ~rpçn~led claims, they are int~nded to be elu~o~ csçd therein.

Claims

WE CLAIM:

1. The method of prioritizing incoming calls and arranging for such incoming calls to be connected to a receiving party for voice contact at a later time, consisting of the steps of:
a. the caller temporarily establishing a communication connection with the receiving party;
b. automatically establishing a priority code, if the incoming call does not already have a priority code;
c. automatically establishing a place on the queue of incoming callers based on the priority code;
d. automatically establish a time to reconnect:
e. forwarding to the caller said established time to reconnect and, if not previously supplied, a priority code to the caller;
f. breaking the communication connection; and g automatically reminding the caller of the time for the caller to initiate reconnection to the receiving party.

2. The method of prioritizing incoming calls according to claim 1 wherein the caller calls back and is reconnected at the time established for reconnection, supplies a priority code and is placed in proper position in queue based on the caller's priority code.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the caller is automatically reconnected and the priority code is automatically supplied to the receiving party

4. The method of prioritizing incoming calls according to claim 1 wherein said priority code is automatically calculated from the time that the caller first establishes the temporary communication connection.

5. The method of prioritizing incoming calls according to claim 4 wherein the time to reconnect is based upon the number of calls holding, the number of calls given reconnect priorities and the average time for each call.

6. The method of prioritizing incoming calls according to claim 1 wherein the caller is supplied with a new telephone number to be used to reconnect the call at a latter time.

7. The method of prioritizing incoming calls according to claim 2 wherein the queue is for voice contact with the receiving party.

8. The method of prioritizing incoming calls accordingly to claim 7 wherein information supplied by the caller is automatically transmitted to the receiving party.

9. The method of prioritizing incoming calls according to claim 8 wherein information from the caller is automatically transmitted to the receiving party at the time the caller is about to be placed in voice contact.

10. The method of prioritizing incoming calls according to claim 2 wherein during the period the caller is in communication connection with the receiving party prior to voice contact with the receiving party, the caller receives information.

11. The method of prioritizing incoming calls according to claim 2 wherein when the caller reconnects, the caller is given information as to the wait time and the option of holding or reconnecting at a latter time.

12. The method of prioritizing incoming calls according to claim 10 wherein when the projected hold time is greater than a set amount, the caller is not given the option of holding.

13. The method of prioritizing incoming calls and arranging for such incoming calls to be connçcted to a receiving party for voice contact at a later time, consisting of the steps of:

a. the caller temporarily establishing a communication connection with the receiving party;
b. automatically establishing a priority code;
c. automatically establishing a place on the queue of incoming callers based on the priority code;
d. automatically establish a time to reconnect:
e. forwarding to the caller said established time to reconnect;
f. breaking the communication connection; and g. automatically reminding the caller of the time for the caller to initiate reconnection to the receiving party.

14. The method of prioritizing incoming calls according to claim 13 wherein the caller calls back and is reconnected at the time established for reconnection and is placed in proper position in queue based on the caller's priority code.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the caller is automatically reconnected and is automatically placed in position in the queue.